It's Cold Outside
by BlackBat07
Summary: Between a cigarette and another, Dick could swear Jason was watching him in the darkness. But that was impossible, Jason was dead.


It was night and rainfall was punishing Gotham City. On the news, in the huge screen attached to a façade of a tall building, the reporter claimed it was the biggest storm of the year. Without paying attention to either the big screen or the people who looked at him as if he was crazy – it wasn't unusual in Gotham – Richard John Grayson walked through the rain with his hands hidden inside the pocket of his hoodie. If he was cold, it did not show. In fact, his face was impassive.

_That_ time of the year had come again. The only day in which Batman gave him a break from night patrol. Not that he thought some villain would dare to do evil in this storm, but Batman... Bruce was hopelessly paranoid.

Rain, he thought, tracing that deserted and familiar way. Jason never liked the rain.

It was exactly a year since the second Robin died at the hands of Joker. Other heroes have died, of course. Heroes like Donna, the former Wonder Girl, who used to be one of his best friends. However, no pain could compare to losing a brother. Because that's what Jason Todd was to him: a brother.

My little Jaybird, as he liked to tease. If he closed his eyes, he could almost hear Jason gritting his teeth, and that angry voice ordering him to shut up. He could almost see his face flushed with anger and even shame... But all that was nothing but distant memories. A year might not even be much, but it was long enough.

A feeling of sadness and familiarity seized Dick as he entered the cemetery. He only went there for three reasons: to visit his parents, to visit Bruce's parents and to visit his little brother. But no matter the season, it always rained. By coincidence, or perhaps fate. Either way, it was good, because the rain seemed to calm him down every time.

Even in the darkness, his eyes met Jason's tombstone easily. He felt the corners of his lips pulling into a small smile. "Hey, little bro."

From inside the hoodie, he pulled out a small flower, cultivated in the gardens of Wayne Manor, into a little flowerbed that he watered every day, and put it on the tombstone. White flowers to John and Mary Grayson. Blue flowers to Barbara. Yellow flowers to Tim. Rose flowers to Zatanna. Green flowers to Bruce. And purple flowers to Jason.

Jason also never liked flowers, Dick thought playing with the zipper of his hoodie.

"It seems that the guy up there hates you, Jay. It hasn't stopped raining all day, even though the weatherman predicted a clear sky 'til the weekend." The hero let a small sigh escape. His eyes traced the letters graven in that stone. Jason Todd. 1996–2011. Son, brother, friend and hero.

"I wanted to write 'stupid, narcissistic and irascible', but Bruce didn't let me. Now I think it makes more sense.

"Many things happened since you... left. Aqualad betrayed us and is now working with the Light; Artemis died when we fought against him and Wally definitely hates me now; Bruce adopted an orphaned boy who found out Batman's identity for himself – don't hate Tim, you know Batman needs Robin at his side. Not to mention the sullen little boy who came claiming to be the 'son of Batman'" he made air quotes, imitating the scowl that never leaves Damian's face. "Like I said, a lot of things happened. Oh, and you've got a hologram next to the first Blue Beetle now. And no, he was not _that _useless.

"The truth is," Dick paused, leaning his head back, trying to find the right words, "I'm thinking of leaving Young Justice. They don't need me anymore; Tim can lead the missions, or even Miss M – she changed a lot since she broke up with Connor –, or anybody else available. I want to get out of Batman's shadow, once and for all. But not solo flight, you know, maybe with a team in another city, where I'm not known just as the Batman's ex-sidekick."

He wanted to shine, to have his moment of glory. A wry smile appeared on his lips. Once a circus freak, always a circus freak.

"I miss you, Jay. So very much. Sorry for not being a better brother to you. Or a better friend. I should have tried to understand you instead of keep quiet while Bruce criticized you. I should have told you that was just his way of showing he cared about you. He wanted to prove you could be a better Robin than I was."

Dick licked his lips and pulled out a crumpled pack of cigarettes from his pocket. "I found it under your pillow while Alfred and I were cleaning your room. Don't get mad. That dump you called a room is still the same, just with less rats and cockroaches.

"Bruce didn't knew you smoked, anyway. Alfred knew, but he never liked to get involved more than necessary in the 'father and son' thing. I think he was waiting the right moment to talk to you alone, but unfortunately that moment never came. "

The former Robin shook the nearly empty pack and pulled out a cigarette and, from his pocket, a silver lighter, also belonging to Jason. He put the cigarette between his lips and shook the lighter a few times until it ignited; he put his hand in front of the small flame so it wouldn't go off before reaching the tip of the cigarette.

A strangely soothing smoke invaded his mouth, throat and nostrils. He swallowed hard, letting that toxic smoke reach his lungs and then exhaled, removing the cigarette from his mouth with his fingers.

That was not the first time he had smoked. The first was when he was fourteen and a boy from school offered him one at a party. Curiosity convinced him yo try it. He came home smelling like smoke and coughing. Bruce immediately suspected. It was a matter of minutes until he confessed. He could remember the sermon he had received from Bruce. Not to mention the long weeks of punishment that followed. Bruce immediately noticed the smell and the change in his voice, so why didn't he do the same with Jason? Well, he was a little too busy criticizing and comparing them to realize something.

"I always thought you were overreacting, but maybe you were right, Jay. Not just on cigarettes, but Bruce, the team, all... Just wish I had recognized it in time."

Dick looked at the watch on his wrist; it was a few minutes to midnight. The rain finally began to take a respite, becoming just a light drizzle. Dick stood there, staring at an invisible point in that sea of graves around him. There was sadness in those lands, but it also had a lot of love from those who lost their loved ones and came every week, bringing flowers and telling them the news, hoping that, wherever they were, the dead heard them with a smile on their faces.

Dick took what was left of the cigarette from his lips and threw it to the muddy ground, erasing it with the sole of his boot. He looked again at the tombstone and took the flower he had put there when he arrived. One of the petals fell to the ground, next to the crushed cigarette, but he didn't care. In a last act of bitterness, he drew the silver lighter again from his pocket and burned the flower, tossing it down in front of Jason's tombstone.

"Be whelmed, little brother. I love you. I'm sorry if I ever gave you a reason to think differently." And with those last words, Dick traced his way back to the cemetery gates, hands in his pockets, glancing back only once.

.

From a distance, a pair of blue eyes stared for a long while at the place where the teen had stood for hours under the rain. With heavy steps, he walked straight to the grave and bent down to pick up the little petal that had fallen to the ground. He read the name written there and frowned. With a knife, taken from his jacket, he made two big X's in the tombstone and left in the opposite direction of Dick, carefully guarding the single petal in his pocket.

* * *

**A/N:** I would like to thank **AvarielArcher **for being very nice and beta this story. Thank you very much!

The timeline, subject to change at any time, to all my YJ stories is as follows:

2007 – Flying Graysons' death. Bruce adopts Dick. Dick is 8.

2008 – Dick becomes Robin. Dick is 9.

2012 – Young Justice is created. Dick is 13. Jason is 10. Tim is 9. Damian is 5.

2016 – Dick becomes Nightwing. Bruce adopts Jason. Jason becomes Robin. Jason dies. Donna Troy (the first Wonder Girl) dies. Dick is 17. Jason is 15. Tim is 12~13. Damian is 9.

2017 – Jason is revived by the Lazarus Pit. Bruce adopts Tim. Tim becomes Robin and part of Young Justice. Damian is introduced to Bruce as his (adorable) son. Dick is 18. Tim is 13. Damian is 10.

I also want to ignore the recent events in YJ Invasion. And for those who didn't understand the last part, the tombstone looked like this:

Jason Todd. 1996 – X. Son, brother, friend and X.

Thanks to those who read and reviewed before the story was fixed. I hope you enjoyed.


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